SBI PO Syllabus 2021: SBI PO is one the most sought after Government exams in the country by all Bank Exam Aspirants. Being an SBI PO is a great career as it offers a lucrative salary, perks, and benefits, Job Security to name a few. To ace the SBI PO exam, prior knowledge of the SBI PO Syllabus and Exam Pattern will be an added advantage. This will help you to escalate your preparation for SBI PO in the right direction.
Table of Contents
The syllabus of SBI PO exam is divided into three tiers:
- Prelims
- Mains
- Group Discussion & Personal Interview (GD & PI)
The SBI Prelims and Mains Exams will be conducted online only. It is compulsory to pass in each of the Tests. Let’s have a look at the detailed SBI PO Syllabus & Exam Pattern.
SBI PO Syllabus 2021: Exam Pattern
The SBI PO 2020 Notification 2020 is expected to release in Dec 2020. Lakhs of candidates will be applying for the exam. The competition will be a cut-throat one. However, the candidates must gear up even before the notification pops up any day in June. It is good to know the syllabus in advance to score well in both these levels of examination i.e., prelims and mains. It is important for a candidate to be acquainted with the exam pattern of both prelims and mains examination along with the syllabus of the same.
SBI PO Syllabus 2021 & Exam Pattern: Overview
The SBI PO Syllabus for the Prelims and the Mains Exam is almost the same. There is only a slight change in the Mains Section with two extra sections being added i.e. General and Banking awareness. However, the level of difficulty of the SBI PO Mains Paper is a little higher than the Prelims.
| Exam Conducting Body | State Bank of India (SBI) |
| Post | Probationary Officer (PO) |
| Notification Date | To Be Notified |
| Selection Process | Prelims Mains GD & PI |
| Marks Segregation SBI PO Exam | Prelims: 100 Marks Mains: 200 Marks Descriptive Test: 50 Marks GD: 20 Marks PI: 30 Marks |
| Duration of Exam | For SBI PO Prelims: 1 Hour For SBI PO Mains: 3 Hours |
| Marking scheme | 1 mark each for every correct answer in Online Test |
| Negative marking | 1/4th of the marks assigned to the question in MCQ |
| Mode of Examination | Online For Paper I and Paper II |
| Language of examination | English OR Hindi English Language paper has to be attempted in English. |
SBI PO Syllabus for Quantitative Aptitude
Candidate must attempt questions that they find easy to solve, less time consuming and most importantly, scoring. To help candidates identify those concepts we are providing here a list of topics which can be solved easily in short span of time:
Simplification: (5-10 Questions)
This include problems based on BODMAS rule, fractions, approximation, decimals and surds & indices.
Number System: (0-1 Questions)
It is based on problems related to divisibility & remainder, multiples & factors, integers, LCM & HCF.
Average: (1-2 Questions)
Questions on average weight/height/age/marks, average money expenditure, average temperature etc. will be asked from this topic.
Percentage: (1-2 Questions)
There will be calculation oriented basic percentage problems.
Ratio and Proportion: (1-2 Questions)
Problems based on simple ratios, compound ratios, componendo and dividendo, proportions, etc. can be expected from this topic under Quantitative aptitude.
Interest: (1-2 Questions)
Problems based on simple interest, compound interest as well as mixture of both SI & CI are commonly asked in SBI PO examinations.
Number Series: (3-5 Questions)
Problems based on completing the series, finding the missing term, finding the wrong term. The concepts behind this can be based on simple AP, GP, AGP or more complex patterns.
The next set of topics can be tricky sometimes but if the candidate is clear with concepts, they can easily score in it as well. These topics include:
Profit and Loss: (0-2 Questions)
Questions like successive selling, partnerships, discount & MP and dishonest dealings are commonly asked from profit and loss topic.
Speed, Time and Distance: (1-2 Questions)
1 or 2 questions can be asked on relative speed, average speed, problems based on trains, boats and stream.
Algebra: (3-5 Questions)
Problems based on quadratic equations in which two quadratic equations are given and we have to determine the relation between x and y. Linear equations questions based on ages may be asked, Sometimes Inequalities are also asked.
Mensuration: (1-2 Questions)
Problems based on areas of square, rectangle, circle, semicircle and parallelogram. Questions pertaining to cone and cylinder can also be asked.
Data Interpretation: (5-10 Questions)
Problems that fall in this category are line graphs, bar graphs, pie charts, tables and other miscellaneous info graphics. Triangular graph & radar graph problems appear rarely. Missing data types questions are also asked in the SBI PO examination.
Finally, candidate must attempt questions that are tough and likely to get inaccurate answers. These questions are highly time consuming. Following are the concepts that fall in this category:
Time and Work: Problems based on work efficiency, pipe & cistern, work and wages can be asked.
Permutation and Combination
Mixture Problems: Problems based on making a mixture of two or more entities/mixtures.
Probability: Basic questions are asked from probability section.
Data Sufficiency: Data sufficiency problems are based on almost all topics mentioned above.
SBI PO Books for Quantitative Aptitude Preparation
| Book Name | Author/Publisher |
| Quantitative Aptitude for Competitive Examinations | R S Aggarwal |
| Shortcuts in Quantitative Aptitude with 4 eBooks for Competitive Exams | Disha Experts |
| Bank PO Quantitative Aptitude Chapterwise Solved Papers | Arihant Experts |
| Chapterwise Solved Papers 2000-2015 Bank PO QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE | Arihant Experts |
SBI PO Syllabus 2021 for Reasoning Ability
Reasoning ability is to judge candidate’s ability to apply reason in solving a particular problem. Candidate must begin with solving some easy questions to secure those marks at least without wasting much time on them. Here is the list of topics under this category:
Coding & Decoding: (1-5 Questions)
Mostly questions include coding and decoding by letter shifting, coding by analogy and coding letters of a word.
Inequalities: (3-5 Questions)
Mostly direct mathematical inequalities problems are asked in the inequalities concept.
There may be a single statement or 2-3 complex statements. There may be 2-4 conclusions which can be extracted from these statements.
Ordering and Ranking: (1-3 Questions)
Several questions on arranging by age, floor, rank, order in row etc. can also be asked.
Directions & Distances: (0-2 Questions)
Simple problems that can be solved by just plotting all the given information on paper.
The questions under this concept are rarely asked in SBI PO examination.
Arrangement & Pattern: (0-2 Questions)
Questions related to this topic are less likely to appear in SBI PO examination.
However, if asked, then questions on random sequence of alphabets, number arrangements and dictionary or alphabet based arrangements etc. can be thrown at candidate.
Analogy: (0-2 Questions)
This includes meaning based, letter based and number based questions.
Classification: (0-2 Questions)
- These questions are also less likely to appear and includes letter based and meaningful words based questions.
- GK based and number based questions can also be asked.
Questions from the following topics can be asked which would not be difficult to answer if the concepts are clear. The topics that can be categorized in this section are:
Syllogisms: (5 Questions)
Problems with numerous statements and multiple conclusions can be dealt with.
Questions are asked whether the conclusions follow or not.
Mostly possibility based questions will be asked.
Blood Relations: (1-3 Questions)
As the name suggests, questions pertaining to family tree and coded blood relation will be asked in this category.
Input-Output: (0-5 Questions)
Words and numbers are arranged based on some pattern which is to be identified and applied on the question statements to arrive at the output.
Data Sufficiency: (0-5 Questions)
Questions on various topics including blood relations, ordering & ranking, coding in fictitious language, circular arrangements, directions & distances, ages & birthdates can be asked as per the observations made from previous SBI PO examinations.
Lastly, questions that can be tricky and time consuming will be asked from the following topics:
Circular Seating Arrangement: (5 Questions)
This concept basically includes uni-directional and bi-directional problems (i.e. facing inside, outside or in both directions).
Sometimes, tough square/rectangular/hexagonal table problems also asked.
These questions may be paired with blood relations or some other double line-up information along with circular arrangement information which makes the problem more difficult and time consuming.
Linear Seating Arrangement: (5 Questions)
Problems involving single row or 2 rows facing each other are given under this category.
It can include double line-up type problems with information sorting.
Double Line Up: (0-5 Questions)
These problems are usually negatively informed so, candidate is required to attempt clean charting, proper technique and step-by-step solving of the problem.
Scheduling: (0-5 Questions)
Questions in this category are less likely to appear.
The problems in this category are very similar to double line-up problems.
Grouping and Selection: (0-5 Questions)
These are the questions that are less likely to appear.
Problems on teams and committees asked under this category.
Verbal Reasoning: (0-2 Questions)
Cause and effect, course of action, statement and assumptions, statement and arguments, statement and inferences, statement and conclusions, and critical reasoning questions are possible.
SBI PO Books for Reasoning Preparation
| Book Name | Author/Publisher |
| Bank PO Reasoning: Chapterwise Solved Papers 1999 to till Date 7330+Objective Questions | Think Tank of Kiran Prakashan, Pratiyogita Kiran, KICX |
| Bank PO Reasoning Chapterwise Solved Papers | Arihant Experts |
| Chapterwise Solved Papers 2000-2015 Bank PO REASONING | Arihant Experts |
| Computer Awareness for General Competitive Exams (Objective with Subjective) | Soumya Ranjan Behera |
SBI PO Syllabus 2021 for the English Language
The third concept in the SBI Preliminary examination is that of the English Language. Here are several topics that will be covered in this concept:
Fill in the Blanks: (5 Questions)
Double blank type questions.
Vocabulary based questions.
Answers can be easily picked by eliminating options and understanding context of the sentence.
Reading Comprehension: (10-15 Questions)
Likely the RC will consist of one passage of 10 questions, including 3-4 questions on vocabulary.
The topics you should look out for are moral stories, banking & economy, business, education, technology and social issues.
Synonyms, antonyms and meanings of phrases will be asked in vocabulary based questions.
Theme and main idea based questions can also be asked.
The fact based and inference based questions require a thorough reading of the passage and sometimes could be a bit tricky.
Para Jumbles: (5 Questions)
A set of 6 sentences will be given to be rearranged and form a meaningful paragraph.
All questions will be based on this single test.
Sometimes, the correct order is asked.
The passage can be on any general topic.
Cloze Test: (5-10 Questions)
A single passage with 5 or 10 blanks.
Passage could be on any topic ranging from banking & economy to social issues.
Words are usually easy to moderate, but there is always one or two tough words.
Understanding the context of the passage will help candidate to solve it easily.
Error Spotting: (5 Questions)
Questions in this category could be asked either from grammar or vocabulary section.
Important topics covered under this are tenses, subject-verb agreement, article-noun agreement, correct part of speech, correct use of prepositions, parallelism, phrasal verbs, easily confusable words, contextual usage, sentence construction, degree of comparison, conjunctions, finite and non-finite verbs.
Phrase Replacement/ Sentence Correction: (5 Questions)
Mostly grammar based.
Candidate must avoid guessing too much in these questions.
The questions sometimes test candidate’s standard construction of sentences, order of words etc.
Phrase Idiom Meaning
To attempt this topic candidate must be sound with interpretation of given phrase idiom.
The phrases will be given and will need to select the correct meaning of the given phrase.
Spellings
Candidate will have to choose the word that is correctly spelt or wrongly spelt from the given options.
Sentence/ Paragraph Completion
Candidate will be given an incomplete long sentence with four options to choose from to complete the sentence meaningfully.
SBI PO Books for English Preparation
| Book Name | Author/Publisher |
| Bank PO English Language Chapterwise Solved Papers | Arihant Experts |
| Objective English for Competitive Examination | Hari Mohan Prasad, Uma Sinha |
| Objective General English (Old Edition) | R S Aggarwal |
SBI PO Syllabus 2021 for Computer Knowledge
- Basics of Computer
- Hardware and software
- Operating system
- MS Word and MS Excel
- PowerPoint
- Generation of Computer
- The internet, etc.
- Short forms (Eg. Jpeg, mp3, pdf)
- Android and Apple related news
SBI PO 2021 General Awareness Syllabus
- News related to RBI (Reserve Bank of India) and other Banks
- Awareness regarding Union, State and Railway Budget
- Economics
- Current Affairs- A candidate must be aware of National and International awards, sports, author and books, summits, etc.
SBI PO Marketing Syllabus
- Basics of Marketing and its strategies
- Market Segmentation and Management
- Marketing Mix and Products Life Cycle
- Developing stage of organization
- Brand and Advertising
- 4 P’s and 4 C’s of marketing
SBI PO 2021 Descriptive Test Syllabus
This is Level 2 in the Main exam of SBI PO. It will commence immediately after candidates completes objective test. Listed below are the highlights of SBI PO descriptive test.
- The exam is conducted in online mode i.e. candidates are allowed a desktop in which they are supposed to type their answers.
- Candidates are given 30 minutes to complete a Descriptive paper
- There are a total of 2 questions in this section namely Letter writing and Essay Writing
- The letter and essay could be asked to be written on any topic relating to banking reforms, social/political or economic policies.
- Each question is of 25 marks which brings the total marks to 50.
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